PORTLAND, ME, August 29, 2005 – For the fourth consecutive year Maine Employers' Mutual Insurance Company (MEMIC) has been named among the nation's top 50 property/casualty insurance companies by Ward Group, one of the industry's most respected organizations.

In its August 22 issue, National Underwriter magazine published a recently-completed analysis by the Cincinnati-based management consulting firm, which placed MEMIC in its Ward's 50 Benchmarking Group, a listing of the top-performing property/casualty insurance companies in the United States. Ward Group annually analyzes 3,000 property/casualty insurance companies.

MEMIC was just one of three workers' compensation-only insurers among the top 50 and the only company based in Northern New England to be honored. Overall, the top 50 ranking puts MEMIC in the top two percent of the property/casualty insurers reviewed.

“Ward Group ranks MEMIC as one of the top performing property-casualty companies in the insurance industry,” said Jeff Rieder of Ward Group. “Many factors contribute to MEMIC's inclusion in the Ward's 50 Benchmark Group, including excellent return on equity and strong underwriting results. Ward Group looks at company performance over a five-year period. MEMIC has demonstrated the ability to meet all safety and consistency tests during an extended period of time.”

“It’s a great honor for MEMIC to once again be compared against some of the giants in our industry and come out among the top two percent,” said MEMIC President and CEO John T. Leonard. “Workers' compensation is a very tough business and very few companies who write only workers' comp make this list. This honor provides our policyholders with further evidence that they are insured by a reliable, top-performing company.

“Each and every day, we strive to be the best all around insurance company in the country. While this designation placed us among an elite group of companies, it actually motivates us to work even harder for our customers and their employees.”

Since 1991, Ward Group has conducted an annual analysis of the property-casualty insurance industry. The objective of the current analysis is to recognize the 50 companies that have excelled at balancing safety, consistency and performance over the past five years (2000 to 2004) and then to benchmark their performance with the industry overall. The top 50 companies become the Ward's 50 Benchmark Group for the year. A complete list of the Ward's 50 benchmark group for the property/casualty industry as well as the life/health companies is available at www.wardinc.com.

Maine Employers' Mutual Insurance Company (MEMIC), based in Portland, Maine, is Maine's largest and leading workers' compensation insurer, providing coverage to 20,000 Maine employers and their estimated 170,000 employees. The company is rated “A” (Excellent) by A.M. Best. MEMIC is the parent company of MEMIC Indemnity Company (rated A- Excellent by A.M. Best). MEMIC Indemnity Company is a workers’ compensation specialty company licensed to underwrite insurance in New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland and South Carolina.